Executive Director

Advisory Board

Board of Directors

Irma L. Olguin Jr. (President)

Jake A. Soberal (Secretary)

John W. Dodson (Treasurer)

July 20, 2015

Dear Community Partner,

In recent years we have seen a rapid rise in curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular opportunities for students in the areas of engineering and robotics. Some of the programs that have taken root at the elementary, middle, and high school levels are FIRST Robotics League, Vex Robotics, and FIRST Lego Robotics. At the post-secondary education level, we have observed a myriad of opportunities that build upon these foundations. Still further, we have witnessed the arrival of the "Maker Movement" to Fresno. And, most importantly, we are seeing a rapid increase within and outside of our region in the need for qualified engineers and technologists, the very sort of professional that these programs seek to inspire.

These programs face a variety of challenges, chief among them are funding, venue, and equipment. We are aware of and support the initiative of 59DaysOfCode to launch a regional lab space where students from around the region can pursue these exciting opportunities, inside of the Bitwise South Stadium technology hub. Such an innovation space would help divide the cost of space and equipment across multiple schools. This would open up the vast opportunity of robotics and engineering to a significantly greater number of students in our region.

Upon the opening of this lab facility we intend to make it available to our students, engineers, inventors, and entrepreneurs, together with the various programs that have a need for this sort of facility; the lab will fill a pressing need for space and equipment. Further, based on its track record of successfully inspiring technological achievement in the Fresno Region, we can sustain this lab.

Thank you for your support in this endeavor. We believe that your contribution will have a dramatic and positive impact on our children and region for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Frances SquireDirector of MarketingWest Hills College

Frank GornickChancellorWest Hills College

Rick WatsonCEOCenter for Advanced Research and Technology

Sally FowlerExecutive Officer of College and Career ReadinessFresno Unified School District

Irma L. Olguin, Jr.PresidentEdit LLC

Jake A. SoberalCEOBitwise Industries

John W. DodsonCEOSJV Technology Group

Randy MorrisSuperintendent of SchoolsKingsburg Unified School District

Brett TaylorPrincipalPatiño High School for Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

Kurt MaddenChief Technology OfficerFresno Unified School District

Edward GonzalezSuperintendent of SchoolsMadera Unified School District

Edgar BluntPresidentCareer Pillar

Lee Ann EagerCEOFresno County Economic Development Corporation

Dr. Timothy StearnsExecutive DirectorLyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State

Paul LakeTeacher and Robotics Team AdvisorBuchanan High School

Michael HansenSuperintendent of SchoolsFresno Unified School District

Jonathan BrownsDirector of ScienceClovis North Educational Center

Andrew ShinnEntrepreneur and Entrepreneurship InstructorReedley College

Deborah NankivellCEOFresno Business Council

Joseph CastroPresidentFresno State University

Michael AdamBoard ChairCentral Valley Robotics

Derrick ReimerChief Technology OfficerDrip

Dr. Eric LiguoriProfessorUniversity of Tampa

Damon Q. ThomasFounderQikLabs

Chris RoggensteinCEOForward Advantage

Fabrizio LofaroDirector of Instructional ServicesValley ROP

Joey CampbellPrincipalWashington Union High School

Carole GoldsmithPresidentWest Hills College

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A nonprofit for the advancement of high technology in the Central Valley.